This is a daily series telling the story of the tombstones of people
who are historically important and interesting as they relate to the
Battle of Gettysburg. The series runs through July 4, marking the 150th
anniversary of the battle.

By Joe Farley, Joe Farrell and Lawrence Knorr

Ulric Dahlgren returned to active duty from a battlefield wound on February 18, 1864, serving under General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick. On February 28, Kilpatrick led 3,600 Union cavalry troopers south toward Richmond, with a plan to raid the city and free Union prisoners being held there. The next day, on February 29, Kilpatrick sent Dahlgren at the head of 460 men off to the west. The plan called for Dahlgren to attack Richmond from the south while Kilpatrick led an attack from the north.The plan was doomed to failure from the outset. Dahlgren found that the James River had swelled due to winter rains and he was unable to cross. He continued toward Richmond but he was on the wrong side of the river. Next he ran into Confederates and was forced to turn north. Kilpatrick reached Richmond but was turned back.

Meanwhile in a cold hard rain, Dahlgren and about 100 of his men were separated from

Ulric Dahlgren (Courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Archives)

the rest of his command. On the night of March 2, Dahlgren and his men were ambushed by rebel troops and he was killed.

A young boy searched Dahlgren’s body and found two documents that historians would call the “Dahlgren Papers”. The papers indicated that Dahlgren had been ordered to destroy the city of Richmond and to kill Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet members. The Dahlgren Papers were published in the Richmond newspapers, and there were those in the South who wanted to put Dahlgren’s captured men on trial, convict them, and then execute them. Robert E. Lee’s opposition may have saved the prisoners. However, Lee did have photographs of the Dahlgren Papers taken. He sent the photographs to General George Meade, along with a letter asking whether the United States government had approved these orders. Meade responded that the government had issued no such order. Privately however, Meade had his doubts. He confided to his wife that “I regret to say that Kilpatrick’s reputation, and collateral evidence in my possession, rather go against this theory.” In the South, this raised the stakes in the war. The next spring, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by a southern sympathizer.

Knorr had a personal connection to the subject matter; he's a
relative of Union Major General John Reynolds, who died on the first day
of battle. The three of them collaborated on this latest version of
Keystone Tombstones. As you will see with this daily feature, there were
no shortage of interesting stories to choose from, since the Battle of
Gettysburg produced 7,600 Confederates and Union soldier deaths and
51,000 casualties.

Over the course of the next 18 days, leading up to the anniversary of
the battle at the beginning of July, Knorr, Farrell and Farley will
introduce a Gettysburg 150 "Tombstone of the Day". The post will look at
are tombstones of residents, soldiers, generals and other historically
significant individuals that are relevant to the Battle of Gettysburg or
the Civil War in general.